Jack Niemann's Black Forest Steak House

Came here for a celebration dinner so wasn’t sure what I’d be able to eat being gluten free. I hadn’t found any reviews mentioning it so was hoping they could work with me. The waiter suggested one of their steaks as he said their seasonings did not contain gluten. Regarding sides, he suggested the baked potato. I mentioned that I’m also dairy free and asked if it would be possible to get the potato without butter. The server informed me that it was no problem and offered as an alternative to put their herbed olive oil on top. The dish also came with a broccoli cauliflower mix which is typically cooked in butter but they steamed it instead. Overall there weren’t a lot of options to eat here but I was grateful that they were willing to work with my dietary restrictions so that I could eat alongside my companions for this celebratory dinner.

I love this little town I live in, however it's rough being gluten-free here as most of the restaurants in town that are open for dinner have slim pickings. As I discovered when opening up the menu during our first visit to Jack's, none of the possible gluten-free dishes were marked and the waiter didn't seem attentive enough to answer any questions on what is gluten free or not, so I just ordered what seemed safe. We were offered bread, but of course it was not gluten-free. That being said, I had a lot more options than the Gateway, so that was nice. We started off with drinks and I was brought an extra dry martini when I ordered an extra dirty. No worries, mistakes happen, but I couldn't help but feel our waiter was ignoring us because we were the youngest patrons in the restaurant (and we are in our 40's 🙈). The surrounding tables were promptly attended to and served while I had to wait a bit for him to come back so I could request the olive juice for my drink. They were nice enough to make a brand new one. Both my husband and I ordered the bacon wrapped filet mignon Oskar, mine medium rare and his medium, and they were perfect. We had this with a side of the Bavarian fried potatoes, which were also delicious. The red house wine I ordered with my meal was surprisingly good. Although the food was great, we were still hungry when we left because the portions were smaller than what we usually cook (I am a distance runner so I eat a lot!). To be fair, we could have ordered an appetizer, salad and a dessert, but our budget for the evening only fit our entrees and a tip. For the record, there are no views of Birch Bay from this restaurant. If you want views of Birch Bay, head to Bay Breeze but that's an entirely different review.